Hello my name is Bulk, I am looking to buy 1000's of pre decimal Irish coins. I will pay 10 pence sterling for each coin and for your P and P. Please respond if this offer interests you.
... and after 2000, Ireland went to the Euro. Northern Ireland has private banks that issue interesting notes. I have one for my Aviation series, honoring Furgeson of Massey-Furgesen tractors. The Republic of Ireland probably enjoyed a nice export business in coins. If you look at the Krause SCWC, you will see that they did not mint coins in all years. They did not need to. They probably would not have needed to even to that level, but American tourists kept taking coins home as souvenirs. With the New Age addiction to Anything Celtic, Irish coins are always popular, even beyond numismatists and collectors. The crown with its Horse is always a winner, as is the dog. It is hard to get people interested in the Pig, but the Hen and Chicks on the Pence is undeniable. Show one and you will have to give it away. Michael (Sometimes "Mick")
And I wonder why the horse, bull, salmon, hound and other animals of Ireland's eight circulating coins were all replaced by a common symbol of Ireland's poetic tradition: the Celtic harp I mean, look at the Italian, Greek or Austrian pieces - eight different designs in each case. Some great, some ho-hum - but all different. And Eire has just that harp on each and every piece now ... Christian
I know they must be the most lack lustre designed coins in the World! Euros are bad enough, but i never was a fan of that Irish harp.
Beauty - eyes - beholder ;-) I for one like many of the euro circulation coin designs. Would be interesting to know whether people, particularly those outside of Euroland, who dislike them without any further differentiation do so because they dislike the concept of the European currency in general. Now the coins of those euro countries that have only one obverse design for all eight denominations are dull in my opinion, not necessarily because of the design but simply due to the lack of creativity and imagination conveyed. Several countries chose three different designs - well, better than only one, but I still prefer the AT/GR/IT approach. In this area, of course, I mostly get German, Dutch and Belgian designs ... Time for a trip to Italy maybe Christian
I just don't like the euro as a rule.The thing i really really hate about it is the fact that coins from different countries all have to have the same obverse (although the reverses are different) they all have to have that map of Europe on them... talk about assimilation. I can only hope we never join. And yes i do collect European coins, mostly British stuff from the 17th century. Anything with a king on one side and a shield on the other and i'm there! And GD's ducats captivate me, not quite as well as the Austrian ones, but you know... I don't like standardisation, i think variation is a good thing, the euro is too standardised for my liking. Although i'm sure i could get to like the odd design, i must admit i really don't like the Netherlands stuff. Looks far too modern for my tastes, typical stereotypical conservative Brit here, if it was good enough for my great great grandfather... Sylvester.
Thanks for the explanation. Well, the German coins minted in Hamburg and those minted in Munich must be even worse then, since the only difference is a tiny little mint mark ... And from my point of view - I live in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, and am in nearby Belgium/Netherlands fairly often - those "different countries" are pretty much a thing of the past. I don't expect people there to be Germans, of course, or vice versa, but if you live or travel around here, you will notice that the old national borders are, in many regards, like state lines in the US nowadays. (FWIW, from here Amsterdam, Brussels and even Paris are closer than "our" federal capital Berlin. Guess that also influences my perception.) The euro coins reflect this situation fairly well, I think: On one hand/side they symbolize the Union, on the other one they reflect the diversity of the member states. As for the UK, it is pretty safe to say it will not join the currency union, but then again I do not really care whether it does or not. As I wrote, had any of the member states "around here" stayed out, now that would bug me ... Agreed, such older coins can be fascinating, and even more so in a country with such a long continuous tradition (currency wise and in a few other regards). Well, I started as a collector of plain regular circulation coins ... and I'm still stuck with contemporary stuff. Oddly enough, I like much of that stuff ;-) (Hope we don't deter the OP by taking this so far ...) Christian
Never seen a euro, except on ebay. Thank the Lord above that we will never go to the euro. The euro smacks of that "one world currency thing", too many Southern Baptists here for that one!
Somehow I believe that Texas is not planning to join the European Union any time soon; so why adopt the euro there? ;-) And a currency that is used by about 300 million people in (mostly) one continent does not really have anything to do with a world currency. Now I would not complain if some kind of mechanism could be found that prevents major exchange rate discrepancies; I am in the US about once or twice a year, and in the five years since the euro was launched, I have seen rates between (roughly) 0.80 and 1.20 USD per EUR. May be a bit worrysome for exporters and importers, but not exactly what would call extremely volatile, and not anything that calls for "corrective" measures ... Christian
Christian, I appreciate your knowledge, I didnt know about the exchange rate. I'm always on the look out, trying to prove prophecy. Bare with me, it gets silly sometime. Ps: watch out for crop circles (ha!)
I too have yet to see any Euros. (They don't circulate much in New Jersey, lol.) Can someone post a few here? My father used to travel all over the world when he worked as an investment banker. He would always bring back a few foreign coins for me from his trips. Some of them are really nice. Or at least, more interesting then our modern US coins. Until recently, that is!: some of our state quarters are terrific!
This is a list of all euro circulation coins (each of them is legal tender anywhere in Euroland): http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/euro/notes_and_coins/coins_images2_en.html The European Central Bank also has a (very similar) coins info section, basically a leftover from the euro cash introduction campaign: http://www.euro.ecb.int/en/section/euro0/coins.html The images of the coins are not large, but you get an idea of what they look like. The euro countries also issue commemorative coins (€2 with a different country specific side; the very first one - Athens Olympics - comes out this month) and collectors coins (mostly silver and gold coins, legal tender in the issuing country only). Agreed, and I collect them all (circulation pieces, not from the mint). Some are very nicely designed indeed ... Christian
Thanks for the links! The best state quarters IMHO are: Vermont RI (and the one w/ the big leaf with all the veins -forget which state that one is from) Seems to me the most succesful state quarters are the ones with a single design, like the Georgia Peach. The state quarters with three or four differnt things on the back, like the Ohio, Louisiana coins don't really work very well. My two cents. Need to see the Euros in person to really judge. But they look pretty interesting. I wish we had a bi-metal coin in circulation.
Don't like the Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands or Irish ones. Greece is alright, Italy ok, Austria's not bad. I actually like the Monaco ones!
Yes, eight identical or almost identical country specific sides ... Guess it's not a coincidence that GR, IT and AT have eight different designs for the eight denominations The same applies to San Marino; but the coins from Monaco (and MC and VA) are almost non-existent in actual circulation ... Christian
You are correct in you assumptions! I'm not keen on too much standardisation, i like variance and a wide numismatic playing field to investigate, i just think euros take the fun out of that. Admittedly it makes cash transactions and stuff fantastically easy compared to how it was before, but from a collector point of view it's alot like a white room, lacks colour and imagination. The designs aren't really invigourating either on some of them, plain money saving low relief cliparts. Gone is the painstaking artistry of the designer, the skilled realistic portrayals, it's all gone to modern silhouette imagery. Although, as you may have guessed, i dislike modern art immensly, it would be nice to see a coin done in surrealism, kinda like those steps that go on forever, but all seem to be going uphill. Amazing stuff.
Right, except that this applies to quite a few modern (and also older) coins from many countries. Earlier this week I got the 50p "Roger Bannister" coin, for example. Interestingly done, with only the legs and the stopwatch, but on the other side there is QE2 as on pretty much every other piece. Not terribly much variation. Admittedly that £5 coin issued last year had a different portrait. Oops, that was a modern silhouette ... To some extent that is due to technical reasons, I think. We expect circulation coins to work flawlessly in vending machines and such, which apparently is difficult to achieve with high relief coins. Now commemoratives offer some more options, and a few are actually quite nice in my opininion. As for surrealistic art, well, Spain will issue those Dalí coins later this year. A tad expensive, though, if one wants to have them all. Don't think that there are any M.C. Escher coins ... except maybe from places like Liberia or Niue ;-) Christian
I really don't like that Roger Bannister coin at all, it's been on the recieving end of some critiscism from us Brits, worst design ever? And i couldn't agree more with you on the obverse thing, especially this new one it's not appealing at all. I wish they'd have an obverse like the 1989 sovereign, with the Queen sat on a throne... http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/1989british4coingoldset.html (although the original sovereigns from 1489 were much better in style... less blank space, if only i could afford one! )... http://www.money.org/una/Henry7.html Still i did see some gorgeous Netherland medieval gold coins knocking around somewhere, absolute beauties. (can't afford those either).
